I can’t wait to see Noah. Already the battle over its biblical accuracy is being debated. This from a story that has already been adapted from and by other ancient cultures. There is not one flood story. There are many. As with any film based on a Bible story, I was a little skeptical at first. But when [Read More...]

I don’t blame World Vision for reversing their decision to accept employees in same-sex marriages. I don’t. They made the exact decision they had to, precisely for the people they serve in impoverished communities. They made the exact decision many writers and bloggers called for yesterday. Many asked folks to think of the children who [Read More...]

Does a corporation have religious rights? That is the question at the heart of Hobby Lobby’s fight against the Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare. It’s an important question — affecting everything from health care to election funding to the numerous anti-LGBT/religious freedom laws — that is in the news again as Hobby Lobby takes its case [Read More...]

Lent 1 — Year A — Gen. 2:15-17; 3:1-7, Psalm 32, Rom. 5:12-19, Matt. 4:1-11 I don’t want to talk about the temptation of Jesus today. Or the temptation of Adam and Eve. In fact, I really don’t want to talk much about temptation at all. Because, to me, Lent isn’t really about temptation and [Read More...]

It was the Greatest Story Ever Sold. The new Jesus film, Son of God, produced by the husband-and-wife holy duo Roma Downey and Mark Burnett, isn’t really a movie as much as it’s a marketing ploy. It’s pretty much the same thing folks saw — for free — during the History Channel’s Bible miniseries. It’s [Read More...]

A couple of months ago, over drinks and a lot of laughter, Mark Sandlin and I hatched an idea for a podcast and sketched it out on crumpled, damp bar napkin. I know. It’s a little cliché. Over the next two months, a number of things have changed. The name of the podcast itself changed. [Read More...]

The Nativity of Our Lord Jesus Christ Isaiah 9:2-7 – Psalm 96 – Titus 2:11-14 – Luke 2:1-20 A light shined brightly in the middle of the dark, frozen night. From somewhere deep in the muddy, cold trenches of World War I, candles began appearing one by one atop the parapets, where just a few [Read More...]

Thanksgiving Day Homily — Matthew 6: 25-33 (Due to confusion at my parish, in the Prayer Book, and in the BCP iPhone app, I ended up preaching the Thanksgiving lectionary for Year B rather than Year C). I’ll never forget the first day my wife went back to work after we had our first son. [Read More...]

The resurrection didn’t just happen. It happens. The resurrection was not a one-time, historical event which happened 2,000 years ago. It is an ongoing reality that has been happening again and again. That’s why the recent conversations between Tony Jones and Marcus Borg over whether the resurrection happened bodily and physically, to my mind, miss [Read More...]

There is not enough blame to go around. Usually, there is. But not this time. So stop saying. Stop believing it. When people suggest it, remind them of the reality of the situation: The Republicans — and Republicans alone — shut down the government. And the Republicans are attempting to push our country into default. [Read More...]